If you’ve ever spilt water on a hot pan, you’ve seen the Leidenfrost Effect in action.

The skittering and fizzing that takes place happens because the surface is super-hot- about twice as hot as the liquid's boiling point.

This causes the water to levitate on the evaporated gas vapour which acts a barrier that keeps the droplet and the hot surface separated.

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The skittering of water occurs because a surface is about twice as hot as the liquid's boiling point. This causes the water to levitate on the evaporated gas vapour which acts a barrier that keeps the droplet and the hot surface separated

THE LEIDENFROST EFFECT

When a liquid hits something really hot - about twice as hot as the liquid's boiling point - it never comes directly in contact with its surface.

This is because vapour acts as a barrier that keeps the two separated. The skittering of water you see when it hits a hot pan is the Leidenfrost effect.

Bath University’s Alex Grounds and Richard Still looked at how droplets travel on different textured surfaces, heated at varying temperatures.

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They found that they could change the direction of the droplets’ movement by changing the temperature of the ratcheted surface.

They also found that droplets can be made to climb up a steep incline – the sharper the teeth of the surface, the steeper incline they were able to climb.

And so the Leidenfrost Maze was created.

The maze guides the water droplets in different directions using specially-arranged grooved hotplates.

‘We think the droplets change direction depending on how fast the gas evaporates from the surface of the droplet and how much the droplet is levitating, combined with the effect of the textured surface that allows it to be propelled along and even go uphill,’ said researcher Alex Grounds.

The
research could be used to develop more sophisticated methods for
controlling small droplets and heat transfer, such as cooling systems
without moving parts.

Researchers at Bath University have found that water droplets can be made to climb up a steep incline using the Leidenfrost effect – the sharper the teeth of the surface, the steeper incline they were able to climb

The Leidenfrost Maze guides water droplets in different directions using specially-arranged grooved hotplates